In the foregoing message we saw that the recovery of the church requires that we be recovered back to the unique and pure ground of the oneness of the Body of Christ with its truths concerning the New Testament faith and God’s economy, the person and work of Christ, and the person and the dispensing of the Triune God. In this message we shall see that this recovery also involves the truth concerning the church, the Body of Christ, the corporate Christ, and the universal and local aspects of the church. We shall also see that the recovery of the church includes the building of the Body of Christ, the temple of God, the house of God, and the establishing of the kingdom life.
Ephesians 1:22-23 speaks of “the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The Body of Christ is an organism constituted of all the believers, who have been regenerated and have God’s life, for the expression of the Head. The Body is the fullness of the Head, and the fullness is the expression of the Head.
Because the church is the Body of Christ and Christ is the Head of the church (Col. 1:18), the church and Christ are one Body, the mysterious, universal great man, having the same life and nature and sharing the same position and authority. Just as Christ is far above all and sits in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:20-21), so also the church sits together with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). Just as Christ has received all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), so also the church participates in His authority (Luke 10:19). Today the life of the church is hidden with Christ in God, and in the future the church will be manifested with Christ in glory (Col. 3:3-4). What Christ is, what Christ has, where Christ is, and what Christ does are what the church is, what the church has, where the church is, and what the church does. Christ is the life and content of the church, and the church is the organism and expression of Christ. The church receives everything from Christ, and everything of Christ is expressed through the church. The two, Christ and the church, are thus mingled and joined as one, with Christ being the inward content and the church, the outward expression.
Ephesians 1:23 reveals that the Body of Christ is “the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Grammatically “the fullness” is in apposition to “His Body.” This indicates that the Body is the fullness and that the fullness is the Body. This fullness is the expression of the One, the universal Christ, who fills all in all.
In Ephesians 1:23 the “all in all” which Christ fills is something universal. Christ is unlimited (Eph. 3:18); He is the breadth and length and height and depth, the very dimensions of the universe. Christ thus fills all in all, and we, the church, by enjoying His riches, eventually become His fullness. The church as the Body of Christ is His fullness as His expression.
The Body of Christ is actually the corporate Christ. “As the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12). In this verse Christ is not the individual Christ but the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ. In Greek “Christ” here is “the Christ,” referring to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as its members. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted of His life and element to be His Body, an organism, to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body. As our physical body has many members, yet is one, so is this Christ.
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